Lesson

Sarah said she had a good ride on Werther Monday, she spent a lot of time on transitions and getting him lighter to the leg aids. Werther was really good for me today, he was willing to get on the bit right away, no problem even when we started out to the left which is my CP side. I actually had a bit more trouble to the right today, go figure. He didn't want to respond to my right leg and instead of stepping over and into the outside rein, he wanted to speed up and move forward. We got that sorted fairly quickly though. We moved away from circle work and did some leg yields on the quarter line to the wall which we decent. We worked on my position and the canter, which is basically, ride the exact opposite as you were told to do as a hunter and you'll be fine. Because Werther is so quiet my first instinct is to get into a half seat when I feel him slowing down. Sarah tells me, I will be in a better driving position if I sit further back and deeper, which I can understand but I'm finding myself fighting my muscle memory. The other big issue is gripping with my knee, which in fairness is also a issue with huntseat riding, but because of my CP I couldn't rely on my lower leg like a regular rider, so I adapted to using the upper leg more, with a lot of balance going to the knee. It is very hard for me to open my knee, physically and mentally. Physically, because when I had surgery on my left leg for my CP the surgeon twisted my knee cap to a "better" position because the muscles where pushing my knee cap out of alignment, so that knee wants to turn in. Mentally it is hard because I fear that I will loose my hard won balance on the horse. The only way to get better is to just keep working at it. Thanks to my barn manager and our grooms, we got the letters up in the dressage ring. One problem though, I can't read them without my glasses! I never had an issue riding without glasses with hunters because I did not need to see too much detail. Nike has these metal alloy glasses that are pretty much twistable. I'm  going to get myself a pair as soon as I get my eyes looked at for a new prescription, I think those would be pretty safe to ride in.